Genius is simple
Less is more....and it takes more work
“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
I recently listened to episode #245 of the Founders Podcast, which focused on the highly successful music producer Rick Rubin.
One of the main takeaways for me was the idea of letting go of that which is not needed, a process crucial to creativity.
Simplicity is about removing that which isn’t essential.
About finding the fastest and most direct journey from A to B.
The writer who can engender an image or an idea with the fewest words.
The artist who strips their canvas of all but the most essential colours and details.
Or, even a young Rick Rubin working with an older Johnny Cash, stripping away everything until it was just a singer and his guitar.
Simplicity at its core is the highest level of mastery.
You must first learn the rules
In his book Mastery, Robert Greene argues that we must first undertake an apprenticeship in a given discipline before we can move on to a stage of creation. This period of practice and learning helps us cultivate the basics of any skill, usually by following the teachings or style of one or more masters.
Greene states that “In the beginning of your career, you must submit to reality and immerse yourself in the process of learning.”
If we are to develop our own style, we must first learn the craft; we cannot develop a skill without first building a foundation of knowledge in that field.
Rick Rubin developed his style through total immersion. He spent years listening to different genres of music, totally engrossed. He began to develop an ear for what he felt sounded interesting.
It wasn’t an apprenticeship in the classical sense, but it was a period of deep study and learning. One that would give him the knowledge and belief needed to help propel him to success.
Find your own style
Once a certain level of competency has been gained, the next stage is experimentation.
Whether it was DaVinci adding details to the paintings of his master Andrea del Verrocchio, or Frank Lloyd Wright secretly designing houses while working for Louis Sullivan or even Ryan Holiday writing for himself while working as a research assistant to Robert Greene.
No one in pursuit of mastery can remain an apprentice indefinitely.
To reach a level of mastery, it isn’t enough to follow the style of another. What follows is a process of experimentation, trial and error.
This is what leads us to developing our own style.
Experimentation is chaotic, it’s messy and likely frustrating, but it is a crucial part of the process, and we must become comfortable with that reality.
It never ends; it is a feature, not a bug.
A writer’s first draft may resemble something written by a teenager. A sculpture begins life as a block of marble that needs to be attacked with a hammer or a lump of clay that needs to be shaped and reshaped.
Simplify
“I try to leave out the parts that people skip.” - Elmore Leonard
Although this appears here as a final step, it is in fact more of a continuous process. Throughout the creation of something, always approach it with simplicity in mind.
Simplicity is about stripping things back and removing the parts that aren’t needed.
This process is also useful in everyday life.
Could you have been clearer when making your point in a disagreement with your spouse? Maybe it could have been avoided altogether?
Maybe there was no need for the 32-slide PowerPoint at work when a simple one-page memo would have been sufficient.
There is a lot to be said for cutting away the non-essential in any situation. Others will definitely appreciate it.
I’ll finish with a quote from Stephen King to sum up what I, as a writer, believe encapsulates the idea perfectly:
“Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart.”
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